It
is my pleasure to present to you the conclusions of the election observation mission
carried out by Congress of Local and Regional Authorities last October. You may
know that our team, composed of 32 members including five colleagues from the
EU Committee of the Regions, was the only international observer delegation on
the spot. We were able to assess the vote in more than 250 polling stations. In
general, we were satisfied these elections were well organised and took place
in a calm and orderly manner, with the exception of a few violent incidents
which definitely cast a shadow over the Election Day. – I will talk about this
a little later.

The
written Report and the Recommendation further to our mission has been already
approved by the Monitoring Committee of the Congress which met a few days ago in
Athens. On March 30th, the Congress’ Plenary Session will discuss
this Report and is invited to adopt the Recommendations.

Our
attendance in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the local elections fits into the
institutional framework of responsibilities of the Congress which include
election observation at the grassroots’ level. Over the last 15 years, more
than hundred such missions were organised in Council of Europe member States
and sometimes beyond. Congress’ delegations are composed of elected local or
regional representatives like myself – which means that we are observing such
elections on a peer-to-peer basis. We are politicians, not technicians, and many
of us are involved in grassroots’ elections in our own countries and
municipalities.

Our observation
mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina took place from September 28 to October 3rd 2016. Led by Stewart
DICKSON, the Head of our delegation, we had the opportunity of meeting representatives
of the Central Election Commission organising this conference together with the
colleagues from the Electoral Assistance Division of the Council of Europe. I
was happy to see Dr. Hadziabdic again, now in her new function as President of
the CEC. We also met with representatives of the media and of parties running
in these elections, as well as people from the coalition of non-governmental
organisations, Pop Lupom. I want to highlight the active role played by civil society
to improve the trust in electoral processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The ballot
was technically well prepared, based on a legal framework which is generally in
line with international standards. We acknowledge the efforts made by the
authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to further improve this framework. We also
welcome the reform of the counting procedure and of the system of “tendered
ballots”, which enabled the election administration to handle these ballots
more transparently than during previous elections.

Despite
these positive steps, some issues remain a matter of concern.

There
is, first of all, the ethnic issue overshadowing the campaign and the vote. On
Election Day, ethnic tensions led to violent incidents in Srebrenica and in Stolac
where conflicts resulted into a physical confrontation between the Bosnian
mayoral candidate and the Croat President of the Municipal Election Commission.
The elections were re-scheduled and held last Sunday, on the 19th of
February. They brought a victory of the seating Bosnian Croat Mayor and were
assessed by domestic observers as calm and orderly, with the exception of
sporadic irregularities.

Secondly,
there is the unsolved problem of local democracy in the City of Mostar where
again no elections were held. This means that a population of some 130.000 has
not been able to vote at the local level since 2008. This constitutes a serious
breach of the right to self-government and is a concern for the Congress.
Several parties incited citizens to vote in other municipalities outside Mostar
in order to express their right to vote - which is also not conducive to the strengthening
of the local vote.

Let
me now mention some major recommendations by the Congress which I would like to
share with you. These recommendations – together with the explicative
memorandum– will be discussed and adopted at the March Session.

The current
composition of polling station commissions and the internal communication
between the three entities of the electoral administration in Bosnia and
Herzegovina remain significant, from a Congress perspective. We will hear more
about the efficiency of the electoral administration during the workshops this
afternoon and I look forward to these discussions. The small number of members
of polling station commissions in many places and the conditions of appointment
and dismissal created troubles on Election Day. There was a lack of training for
the new regulation about “correct counting”. This created some uncertainties
and challenged the administration. In order to achieve the de-politicization of
the election administration, the Congress encourages the national authorities
to improve the conditions of appointment and dismissal of the members, in order
to avoid trading of positions on these commissions.

There
is also the recurring issue of quality of voter’s lists. Despite the efforts
made by the authorities, the process of updating these lists still needs to be improved.
Many deceased voters remained on the lists which created differences between
the number of inhabitants given by the 2013 census and the number of voters who
cast a ballot. Deceased voters should be automatically removed from the lists.

Moreover,
there are a great number of inhabitants who are registered on the lists but are
living de facto abroad. The Congress
believes that an “actual link” should exist between a voter and the place in
which she or he casts the ballot at local level. In line with Congress’ Recommendation
369, the electoral framework should allow only for individuals permanently
residing in a specific municipality - with the very center of life in this
place - to take part in local elections.

Furthermore,
the Congress received reports about potential fraud related to out-of- country
voting. Stolen ID cards were said to be used in neighbouring countries to
request mail ballots and the Central Election Commission transmitted some
complaints to the Prosecutor General. We think that these risks should be taken
seriously by the CEC and safeguards should be introduced for future elections.

The
Congress’ delegation also heard reports of vote-buying, not only through cash
but also through other benefits. We ourselves observed incidents of family
voting as well as dubious cases of “assisted voting” without apparent need. With
regards to vote-buying, it is crucial that effective and appropriate sanctions
are applied. The current lengthy investigation with regards to attempted
electoral fraud undermines the effectiveness of sanctioning mechanisms.

In
the context of transparency of political parties and campaign financing, I
should like to talk about cases of misuse of administrative resources which
were mentioned to the Congress’ delegation. By improving the existing
legislation on electoral fraud, effective sanctions should be introduced in
order to increase trust among voters. Electoral observers know very well that
misuse of administrative resources is widespread and it has somehow made its
way into the established European political culture. Therefore, the Congress
has already prepared a Report dedicated to this theme and will present a new
Checklist at its March Session for compliance with international standards and
best practices in order to prevent this form of electoral fraud.

Finally,
let me refer to the need to ensure a level playing field for candidates in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also necessary to guarantee equal access to the
media during electoral campaigns. In particular, independent candidates or
candidates from small parties did not receive what we would consider a fair
electoral coverage. Reinforcing the legislation in favor of female
participation in local democracy is important. We heard that, after the 2012
local elections, women elected as local representatives resigned during their
term of office in exchange for another job and were replaced by men from their
party list – which is undermining what the gender quota (currently prescribing
a minimum of 40% of the underrepresented gender) wants to achieve.

Ladies
and gentlemen, the local elections organised on 2 October 2016 were held
against the background of a challenging economic situation, continuing tensions
between the central state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska (I am
referring to the referendum held in Srpska on the National Day just a week
earlier) and a growing electoral fatigue among voters. Political allegiance is
still based on ethnic identity. And there remains a division rather than a
feeling of unity and responsibility for a common future.

However,
we from the Congress acknowledge the will of the electoral administration – and
in particular of the Central Election Commission – to increase, despite the
problems and hurdles, the professionalism and efficiency of the electoral
management, at all levels. We are ready to assist the authorities in further
improving the situation through the post-electoral dialogue offered by the
Congress. I would be pleased to inform you more in detail of this dialogue in
one-on-one conversations during this conference.